Overlay.



1. 8. NEA'LE.

OVERL AY. 7

APPLICATION FILED AUG-14,1915.

1 17 17 Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

JOHN B. NEALE, or BATTLE; CREEK, MICHIGAN, Assienoia or oun n'anrxroseen w,

' GAGE, or, BATTLE annex, MICHIGAN.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN citizen of the United States, residing atBattle Creek, in the county of Calhoun and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Overlays; and I herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof,

reference being had to'the accompanylng the usual 'way,,and

drawings, which form part of this specification; v

This invention or discovery relates to the art of printing, and hasparticular reference to the producing of fine high-grade illus} tratedwork commonly called half-tone printing; and the object of the presentinvention is to provide a novel overlay by the employment of which suchhalf-tone printing can be effected in a superior manner, and besuccessfully produced upon grades of paper, such as uncoated book paperand ordinary newspaper stock, which have heretofore been consideredimpractical to use for such printing. Such novel overlays willalso-reduce the amount of labor, time and skill required in making readythe 'press and enable superior half-tone printing' to be -that by makingoverlayswith a measurablyproduced on ordinary presses. I My invention isbased upon the discovery yielding cushioned or resilient surface, ascompared with the hard unyielding overlays heretofore employed, greatlysuperior results can be obtained in printing, such results be-.

ing primarily dueto the said resilient orcushion surface of the overlay.

The present invention consists in making,

the overlays of resilient or cushioning material, such as rubber. 'Suchan overlay can be produced in the following manner: An inked proof istaken from the original halftone plate from which it is intended toprint,

and while fresh is given a coating of bronze, or other suitable finelydivided opaque powder. This proof is then used as a negative forprinting upon the sensitized surfaceof a metal plate (properly preparedto take such print by the usual processes employed by metal etchers orengravers) making a reverse same size asrthe original halfprint of theThis reverse print is then detone plate.

veloped and fluid by any suitable method. The printed plate is thenetched to the depth desired in B. NEALE, a.

rendered resistant to etching may further be hand made from said etchedplate in the usual way by pressure and heat, by any suitable means,sufficiently firmnir hard to retain the .desired gradations and toningeffects of an overlay, but retaining in itself suflicient resilience oryielding properties to give-the desired cushioning effect. Such overlaysmade entirely of rubber, orother material,

' which in itself possesses the necessary yielding or cushioningproperties, whengnade of I Specification of Letters Patent. Patgntgd AQlL 191$; Application filed August 14, 1915. Serial no, 45,579.

"tooled to make further changes in its tonal value f desired. The rubberoverlay is then targe size, have a tendency to shrink when vulcanized.Any shrinkage occurring in small sized overlays ofthis kind could'beovercome bystretching-the overlay to ,position and fastening it clown.for printing purposes,.but if the overlay is large, register may beinsured by vulcanizing the overlay upon a backing of wire netting of thekind used for millers bolting cloth, or a special fine and light nettingcould be used to hold the-material of the overlay in register withtheoriginal plate from which it is 'desired to print. In some cases aperforated flexible plate, or anything else that would preventexcessive' shrinkage or contracting of the overlay when removed from thevuleanizing mold, or any suitable backing that will not change its sizenor be injuriously affected by the processes of making the overlayinwhich it is employed, may be used:

In use such resilient cushioned overlay is placed upon the'cylinder'or'platen of the press, just as an ordinary overlay wouldvbe placed. Thesuperior results obtained in printing by using my invention are due tothe yielding or cushioning nature of .the overlay, rather than to anynovelty in the mode of placing theoverlay in the press, or.

to any novelty in the mode of operating the press after the overlay isin position.

under a varying number of sheetsof tympan paper, but Ihavefound thatthis is not essential when using my invention; that is,

The ordinary overlays'are usually buried were it not for the'liabilityof mechanical injury my novel overlays might be placedon topvof thetympan sheets and still be, effective for some classes of work.

Upon someclasses of printing it might be expedient to interpose more orless tympan paper between the overlay and the material to be printed,toobviate. any tend'ency to over-eflr ct. This is common ractice with I7 finer grades of paper the work produced is I v with variousprojections as a and depres-- any ordinary make-ready. A patch sheet orauxiliary overlay could be applied as usual to my overlay if desired toaugment pressure at any particular point.

Pressmen will readily understand the many factors which enter into theproduction of a perfectly printed sheet and .Which may require minorchanges of make-ready that do not alter the underlying principle of theinvention. My resilient or cushioned overlay. is therefore subject tosuch variations of position and hardness as will produce the bestresults, as there is no fixed degree of resiliency'orresistance thatwill yield unvarying results upon all classes of printing.

With such novel overlays I am able to produce beautiful high-gradehalf-tone printing on ordinary newspaper stock, printing the same in anordinary fiat bed or rotary press, and produce results which are ecpialor superior to those produced by the otogravureprocess. When printing onsuperior in appearance to that produced by any of the heretofore knownoverlays or processes.- The overlays maybe also employed in printingupon fabrics and other materialwith greatly improved results, and isalso peculiarly adaptable to the production of loose-leaf catalogueillustrations in half-tone without resort to the off-set process -oflithography now employed where fine illustrations must be shown uponbond or ledger papers upon which it has hitherto been consideredimpossible to print successfully half-tone work.

In the accompanying drawing I have illus;

trated conventionally a magnified overlay embodying my invention; saidoverlay as shown having a body 1, preferably formed of rubber or othersuitable material, having a top-or working surface, 2 which in itselfpossesses the necessary yielding or cushion-- ing properties; and abacking or stiffening 3 of wire fabric or other suitable material; thesaid working surface may be formed sions as 1) according to the degreeof variation of pressure desired. a

My noveloverlays obviate the objectionable tendency of hard-surfacedoverlays to crack, bend, or emboss the paper being printed. "By. usingmynovel overlays superior and hitherto unattainable effects can beproduced from half-tone plates upon cheap 5 rial being printed.

grades of newspaper, or rough-surfaced papers, upon which paper it haspreviously been impossible to produce lmpresslons of the artisticcharacter and quality produced by the use of my invention, it havingheretofore been an accepted maxim of the trade that highly surfacedpaper is necessary for fine work in half-tone printing.

What I claim is:

1. An overlay formed of material providing in itself a resilientcushioning surface, for the purpose specified.

' 2. An overlay for use in half-tone printing composed of materialhaving a limited degree of resiliency or cushioning properties.

3.. An overlay formed'of material, having sufficient inherent elasticityto compensate for minute surface. irregularities in the paper ormaterial being printed.

4. A self-contained overlay, formed integrally of rubber having aresilient cush ioning surface, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.-

5. An overlay for use in half-tone printing, formed of rubber and havingsufficient inherent elasticity to compensate for minute surfaceirregularities in thepaper or mate- 6. An overlay formed of materialproviding a resilient cushioning surface, and a non-shrinkable backing,for the purpose specified.

7. An overlay formed of material having sufficient inherent elasticityto compensate for minute surface irregularities in the substantially asdescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. NEALE.

Witnesses:

GEo. W. MECHEM, I THERESA F. GiBBoNs.

